Forlong - Rivers of Life

280
Rivers of Life, or Faiths of Man in all Lands.
elsewhere. The two stones in the cup (“Testimony” in the Ark?) were clearly
thought sufficient by these rude Gaulic copyists, and the addition of a Jove as
Oak or Hercules and symbolic shells, evidently thought superfluous luxuries. We
get this coin, my No. 131, from the French coasts, and we must not be misled
by classical scholars, who do not understand phallic lore, into the absurdities I have
read in explanation of such bona fide Phenician and Solo-phallic gems. We see here
very distinctly what the “two stones” mean; they are fed by the eternal fire of the
Sun-god, and in tum feed “the yielding earth Cow,” or feminine symbol; we can also
here clearly understand what idea the huge Hera-Kālā, with his baton and animal
fleece, is meant to convey. I give in figure I., No. XIII. a very suggestive Phenician
coin, where an excited dog stands barking at the mouth of the shell, which is placed on
its side and below the fruitful tree, in this instance placed more naturally between the
stones; the tree is very erect, laden with fruit, and encircled by a serpent. A similar
coin, fig. 10, Plate X., has a bull with crescent on its side and between its horns; whilst
in the crescent is the solar orb, juat as in the caae of Apis. In front of this bull is a
Cone, carrying a Crescent, and similar in all respects, therefore, to the idea of the Siva
of Som-nāt, and the Osiris of Pl. XIII. fig. 13. But to resume the subject of enquiry,
viz., why, if these ideas and objects formed at one time the faiths of all men and
nations, and do so extensively still, why, I urge, should we not find than in these
Islands, always so famous for the intensity of their religious fervour? Would it not
be marvellous if Abury, Stonehenge, and such like places were not Solo-phallic?
Our Queen rules over, according to the latest census returns, some 100 millions
of PURE PHALLIC-worshippers, 1 that is, above three times the population of these Islands,
and if we say merely Phallo-Solar worshippers, then 200 millions who adore all my
first five streams, mixing these only a little with Book and Ancestor-worship. Thus
the Queen rules over, at least, seven Solo-phallic worshippers for every one of her Christian
subjects. These figures show us how inconsiderable is our own small stream;
and if we add the rest of Asia and Africa, and deduct those following with tolerable
purity, Bhooda, Confucius, and a host of similarly good men, as well as the adherents
of the Prophet of Arabia, we still can make pretty sure of far more tban half 2 the
population of the whole world (which, say, is 1,200 millions) as devoted to phallic
faiths, or to my first five streams, viz., to Elemental religions, worshipping Fertility.
The above being so, I see no difficulty in acknowledging that stone circles were
places of Sun-worship and sacrifice, and that avenues should lead up to them in a
highly Drakonic form, and that all the figures should be marked out by Lingam-like
1
BRITISH SUBJECTS
Asia, - - - - 171,000,000
2
Asia - - - - 650,000,000
Dependent States - - 50,000,000 Africa, - - - 120,000,000
————— —————
231,000,000 770,000,000
[See corrected census, ii. 590 (note in vol. 1 errata)]